Many municipal wastewater systems built in the 1970s and 1980s are nearing the end of their useful lives, forcing municipalities and utilities around the country to look at ways of breathing new life into their treatment plants. The stimulus funding in the $787-billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,

coupled with an expected increase in funding for the clean-water and drinking-water state revolving funds (SRFs), could offer some benefit to municipalities that have deferred maintenance and improvement projects because of the troubled economy. But firms that design and build wastewater-treatment facilities say new regulatory requirements—particularly those relating to nutrients—are pushing new projects and technological advancements more than the promise of additional funds.